The Sniper

The Sniper is a 2009 Hong Kong action thriller film directed by Dante Lam and starring Richie Jen, Edison Chen and Huang Xiaoming, as top snipers for the Hong Kong Police Force. The film was originally set to be released in May 2008, but was delayed due to the Edison Chen photo scandal. This is Chen's final film in Hong Kong as of 2015. Plot Hartman Fong (Richie Jen) succeeds Shane (Bowie Lam) as the leader of Hong Kong's Special Duties Unit Sniper Team. Hartman who is by-the-book and hierarchical, got the job despite being the second best shooter in team history. The best was Hartman's former teammate Lincoln (Huang Xiaoming), whose unorthodox methods and confidence makes him arrogant and disdainful of authority. Hartman and Lincoln are two alpha males with a long-running rivalry, with only room at the top for one sharpshooter. Lincoln however was dismissed and jailed for accidentally killing a hostage (the son of the bank chairman) during a bank robbery committed by crime boss Tao (Jack Kao). Lincoln maintained in defense that Tao was about to pull the pin of a grenade but no one else on the Sniper Team could support his story, indeed there is a feeling that Hartman (who was the only other person who could have been in a position to see Tao with the grenade) may have withheld key evidence that would have exonerated Lincoln. Back to the present, upon his release from prison after a four-year stint, Lincoln still harbors a grudge against his former SDU teammates despite being welcomed back into society by Shane. Within days Lincoln has purchased an illegal sniper rifle. He also rekindles his relationship with his wife Crystal (Mango Wong) who encourages him to seek revenge, after they view the wedding ring in the aquarium. In a flashback, there are two rookie cops getting involved in criminal shootout. One of them is OJ (Edison Chen), who manages to stay calm and kills a criminal. Lincoln sees potential in this youngster and decides to take him under his wing. Yet when OJ becomes fascinated by Lincoln and determines to top his shooting skills, he becomes another wild card on the loose. OJ's unorthodox means leads him into frequent conflicts with Hartman's rigid authoritarian style.